Next One Is a Babe

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“What do you mean, ‘what’s up’?” Cindy asked, blinking in confusion. “Nothing’s up!”

Naomi frowned. “Are you fighting?”

It would make sense, she thought as she said that. After all, ever since dropping by her place yesterday, Cindy hadn’t called Ian once.

That was completely unlike the behavior a couple ought to have.

With a smile, Cindy reassured, “No. What would we have to fight about? It’s not like you don’t know me. I don’t fight.”

Unconvinced, Naomi persisted, “Why didn’t you even say hi, then? It doesn’t make sense.” Since Cindy didn’t reply, Naomi turned on her microphone after a moment of thought. “Ian,” she murmured, and the man in question hummed in reply. Naomi then continued, “Have you been with Cindy long?”

Once again, Ian responded neutrally with a hum that sounded halfway between a grunt and an answer to her question.

“What do you think of her?” Naomi continued with a chuckle. “Isn’t she just so caring and considerate?”

“She is very caring,” he admitted.

With a bit of pride in her voice, Naomi told him, “When we were still in school, we always did say that the man who got to marry her would surely be lucky.”

“I see,” he answered evasively.

“She was always very likable in school,” Naomi blabbered on, seemingly oblivious to the situation. “The boy in the classroom next to ours had such a huge crush on her.”

Frowning, Cindy whipped her head around to look at Naomi. “What are you talking about? When did this happen? I never knew about it.”

“You didn’t?” Naomi asked in astonishment. After all, she wasn’t lying. “I’m talking about Todd Fontana. We talked about him in school.”

As Cindy thought back, she recalled the person named Todd Fontana. Indeed, her dormitory mates had joked about them being a couple.

The problem was that she always assumed they were only jokes.

Reading the expression on Cindy’s face, Naomi lamented, “Goodness, did you not know that he liked you for two years? Did you even spare a thought on this? I imagine he would weep himself to death if he found out about it. You wasted two years of his youth!”

All of a sudden, Ian chuckled, although there was no indication whether he was amused by Naomi’s words or this event from Cindy’s past.

For some reason, Cindy felt her cheeks grow hot. “Don’t be ridiculous! You were all simply giving in to your flights of fantasy. I barely spoke to him or even interacted with him, so how could such a thing happen?”

With a dramatic gasp, Naomi continued, “Todd would be so hurt if he knew you never took our jokes to heart!”

Indeed, Cindy had not done so.

After all, while she was still at school, everyone joked about certain classmates crushing on other classmates. None of it was taken seriously.

Meanwhile, Naomi was informing Ian, “I’m telling the truth and I’m not kidding. There was actually someone who had a huge crush on her.”

A beat passed before Ian grunted in reply. “Is that the case? I never even knew.”